Antifriction bearing



Jan- 8, 1952 jF. s. KINGSTON -lx'NTIFRIcTIoN BEARING Original Filed July 12, 1945 III/l N IIIIHII ,i iiiiii Patented Jan. 8, 19:52

Frederick S. Kingston, North Plainfield N. J., as signor to The Hoover Company, North` Cantonr Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Continuation of applicationv Serial: No. 604,616, July 12, 1945. Thisy applicationJune 15, 1949,-

SerialNo. 99,205-

l invention relates' to anti-friction bearings. and a principal object vof the invention is to provide away of permitting a 'wider range of tolerances in the fit between the movable race ring of the bearing,J and the shaft or other rotary member to which the ring may be secured.`

In a large majority of cases where anti-friction. bearings 'are used the outer racev ring remains stationary while the inner ring is' press fitted' to a shaft 'or otherrotarymember and rotates therewith. The presentv invention will 'be described, tlfrerefore, primarily in its relation. to the above type of use. It 'will be apparent,l however, that the principle of'A theinvention is applicable also to assemblies wherein the inner ring is. stationary and thev outer ringY is press iitted toV a rotary member;

In anti-friction bearings.. asused in practice, the inner and' outer race rings are made of'hardened steel' as are the rolling elements,positionedv between the races 'of the race rings while the axially' aligned stationaryY and rotary membersbetween which the bearings. are positioned are not hardened.' Additionally, the race ring which is: interfittedwithlthe rotary'member must have a comparatively tight press t. therewith so that the ring'wihrotate with the rotary member while the ring which is intertted with the stationary member can't rather loosely in comparison, insome cases' the` internal and' external diameters of' the intertting parts can be the' same, because if the tolerances Vare correct throughout there is little tendency for the stationary race. ring to rotate relative tov the stationary member.v Y

It is highly desirable and, in. fact,. necessary to carefullyvv control the internalv fit of the rolling. efementsbetween the races of an, anti-friction bearing.. In some cases the. t betweenthe. rolling elements and the race. rings may be .closer whereas in others considerable looseness. may. be desirable. ,'Ihus the bearings. as they come from the. shop may have internal ftavarying,v from..

line to lineg; wherein. the. partsv4 twithout loose.- ness or tightness toa rather free fit wherein. the

total` play between. the bearing, parts may amount f to severalfthousandths of. an inch; When...the innerY race ispressed' onto, the shaft.. it willexf..

pandl and' thet original 't of,` theV bearings is calL-fy 5 Claims. (Cl. 308-189) curated' withthis. fact, in mind so that when. the.

bearing has. been niountedand the. inner ring. has;Y

been expanded the resulting internal fltotvthe' bearingV will'. conform. to. the. particular require ments deslred. I'n. other words., the. Iity of.'Y thav` rolling elements betweenthe races; the beaming.,.V

is supplica-ty me manufactureris somewhat' looser than Ythat required and the -e'xp'ansi'onoi the inner ring will remove a certain amount .of this looseness which exists before the bearing is installed.

In small motors, where the inner race ring is press fitted to a rotary shaft of comparatively small diameter, considerable tightness is required so that the inner ring willr rotate with the shaft.

As a result, ifthe shaft is not machined. carefully to the exact size required'and if' the inter-A nal diameter ofv the inner ring is not held to size, considerable difficulty is experienced. the f1tis too loose the inner ring. willl not be expandedrv suicientl'y to take up the internal slack. in the f internal fit between the races and' the rolling.

elements andthe bearing will be noisy. It the fit is too tight ythe inner ring will be expanded'. excessively and the rolling elements willv bind in the races.

In order that thev internart of the vbearing after. mounting may be. properly controlled.. it isy customary for the manufacturer of. the, bearing to specify certain ranges of tolerances the consumer'must observe in 'forming the bearing Y seat on the shaft for proper accommodation of the particular'bearing used. Usually, this work.- ing .tolerance may be in theorder of' plusor minus .0002 of anK inch or more corresponding. toithesize of' the' hearing. Such small working toleranoes4 necessarily require careful. machining. and addi materially tothe cost of production..

I` have discovered that this. working tolerance may be materially increased by the simple` expedient of reducing. to a substantial` degree.' the surface area ofthe shaft which actually engages the inner or. seating. surface of the4 .inner race ring. This4 may be. accomplished in. various ways.. for example, as by removing metal'. from the seat so. as to form thereinV spaced grooves or recesses having the eiect of reducing the areaof` the seatf in actual contact with.` thefinner ring, while-stilll obtainingsuicient. grip. upon the shaft andat the same time maintaininganadequateand sta.-

ble. support for the bearingw It is apparent that.-

when an inner. ring, ispresstted to a shaft, there;v

will result in addition` to theexpansion ofy inner. ,ringar correspondingsbut lesser. compression. Vof the shaft..y Byr reducing. the actual: area f of the. bearing. seatl on the shaftthe pressure of. the.. ring upon the metal of theishaft will beim posed` upon a smaller, area@ and thepressure: per" unit of area, therefore, increased. It`A is. apparent, thatY under those conditions:-

shaft will bev subiect to7 a. greaterf amount of com-.f`

pression by the compressive action of the inner ring than in conventional cases where the surface of the seat is coextensive with the opposed surface of the inner ring, and that the application of the principle of the present invention will result in increased shaft compression with less corresponding expansion of the race ring.

I'he increased compressive force per unit of area uponth'e unharden'ed movable member will place the metal of the movable member under an elastic stress and will also cause some cold flow of the material into the voids` produced between the oppposed surfaces of the hardened race ring and the unhardene'd movable member. When the hardened ring is removed from the movable member the metal of the movable member will recover somewhatdue to its elasticity but will not return completely to its original'- diameter due to the cold iiow of the metal into the voids.

The same result can be attained by undercuttingv the contacting area of the movable race ring "before the hardening operation.

""As' a result of the present invention the tendency in the manufacture of the inner race ring and' ofv the shaft will be towards a slight oversize in thel shaft'andundersize in the 'internal diameter'of'the race ring with the resultant increased'latitude in the potential shaft compressionwhich will materially increase the range of theworking tolerances inthe fit between the shaft'and ring;Y

The main object of the present invention is tounder'cut the metal in one ofthe opposed surfaces between the rotary race ring and the rotary member which are press tted together while maintaining a stable contact between them and also while maintaining press-fit tolerances whereby'l the material of the rotatable member will be placed under increased compressive 'stresses pervunit area of contact so as to cause thematerialof `the rotatable member lto have the tendency to cold owinto the valleys or voids thus'forrried and Vcorrespondingly to decrease the deformation of the hardened' race vvring in case the tolerances are too high.

'Variousembodiments' of the invention are illustrated'in the attached drawings wherein:

Figurer is a fragmentary view of a shaft havinga bearing seat in accordance with this 'invention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary sectional view showing an anti-friction bearing and its housing assembled withjthe shaft and seat;

-Figures-3 to 6,* inclusive, are views'corresponding 'to Figc-1 but showing other embodiments of the-invention;l and `ligures '7, 8, and 9 are views corresponding to Fig.'2 and illustrating other bearing structures''accordingto the invention.

I'his application is 'a continuation of my copending application, "Serial No. 604,616, filed July` 12, 1945;' now; abandoned;

In Figs. l and 2of the drawings, I have illustrated a shaft I having a reduced end 2 forming a seat for an anti-friction bearing. A s shown inFig. 2 the hardened inner race ring 3"'of the Vbearing is'press fitted over the end 2, theouter hardened Vrace ring 4 of the-bearingV being' fitted comparatively loosely within a fixed housing-5.' A plurality of hardened rolling elements 6 are confined between races formed in the opposed faces of the inner and outer rings 3 and 4. y 1

'In accordance with the invention, the reduced end 2 of the shaft I isundercut to form a shal- CII 4 low recess 'I extending circumferentially about the end 2 in the cylindrical surface thereof. The actual seat for the inner ring 3 is thereby restricted to two cylindrical surfaces 8 and 9 at opposite sides of the recess 1. Thus, the surface area ofthe end 2 whichis actually contacted by the inner surfaceof the inner vring3, is reduced to a relatively small portion of the entire area, preferably in the neighborhood of fifty percent or less` Thus, the pressure of the ring 3, tending to compress the end 2, is applied to a relatively small surface area, and the pressure per unit of area isv correspondingly great. Therefore, the'degree of compression in the metal of the end 2 under'the compressive action of the press fitted hardened ring 3 is relatively great, and the working tolerance ,is materially increased because anoversize on tolerance will expand the race ring less than it would with a full seat.

There are other ways for thus increasing the working tolerances in a device of the character herein described. In lieu of the single relatively wide recess 1, for example, a series of relatively narrow and relatively spaced recesses II may bel employed, as in the embodiment of Fig. 3. The spaced recesses may also'take the form of a continuous helical recess I2, a's illustrated in Fig. 4. In Fig. 5 the actual area of the seat is reduced by means of a plurality of cylindrical spaced recesses I3; and in' the embodiment of Fig. 6. a similar effect is obtained by a plurality of longitudinally disposed grooves or recesses- I4.v

, ment is illustrated in Fig. '7 where the outer ring is designated by the reference numeral I5 and the inner ring by the reference lnumeral I6. In.,

this modification the shaft I'I is the 'relatively fixed element and the housing member I8 rotates about the shaft. Thus, the outer ring I5 of the bearing is press fitted into the housing I8, whereas the'inner race ring I6 engages relatively loosely with the cylindrical surface of the shaft end I9. In accordance with the invention, that portion of the housing which4 forms the seat for the 'outer ring.is undercut to form a narrow recess 2|, so that in effect the ring is seated in the housing on two cylindrical surface areas 22 and 23 on opposite sides of the recess- In this modification, the under cutrecess 2l. 2| affords-a greater range'of possible expansion of the seating surface of the housing I8 under the expansive action of the press fitted hardened outer race ring 2 I.

It will be noted that in Fig. 2 the cylindrical form of the recess in the bearing seat, in addition to reducing the active surface of the seat,`also aords relief for the mid-portion of the inner ring which contains the ball race, permitting the inner ring to iiex slightly and to thereby relieve' pressure on the rolling elements 6.

In the structure shown in Figs. 8 and 9 the principle of the invention is used to permit a somewhat greater latitude in working tolerances.l

crease the working: tolerances-in a press fit betyveenlth@ ,Qlllr ring and ,the housing ,21. VIn this instance the recess or groove in the outer ring is indicated by the reference numeral 28.

In Figa-'8 and-9 kthe pressfit contact areas of the race rings are undercut in any suitable manner before the hardening operation with the result thatl when they are press fitted to the movable member, the reduced area `of contact will result in an increased compressive stress on the metal of the unhardened rotary member which ln turn will cause increased gripping action between the-Vcontactingsurfaces.perunit of area in contact and will have a tendency to cause the metal of the unhardened surface of the rotary member to cold ow into the voids or valleys formed in the hardened ring.

There may be other modifications without departing from the spirit of the invention, and it is to be understood that the term press t as used herein is intended to embrace any means for mounting the race ring of an anti-friction bearing which involves pressure between the opposed surfaces of the ring and its seat. It is'to be noted also that the character of recesses shown in Figs. 3 to 6, inclusive, may also be applied to the bearing ring itself, or to the housing seat as well as to the shaft as shown.

I claim:

1, In a bearing of the type including coaxial fixed and rotary members separated by an antirfriction bearing in the form of concentric hardened steel race rings having a plurality of hardened rolling elements positioned between the rings in rolling contact with the races thereof, the internal tolerances being such that excessive deformation of said race rings will cause said rolling elements to bind therein, the race rings having intertting press fitted engagement with the rotary member and a comparatively looser t with the stationary member, that improvement which comprises at least one internal undercut area in the press dt contact between the movable member and its race ring of sufficient extent to substantially increase the pressure per unit of area on the metal of the movable member by the compressive action of the ring to compress the metal of the rotary member and cause it to cold flow into the undercut area in case the tolerances between them is at a maximum and thereby prevent excessive deformation of the race ring which is press iitted to the rotary member.

2. In combination, axially aligned fixed and rotary members, an anti-friction bearing for radially spacing said fixed and rotary members, said bearing comprising inner and outer hardened in case the tolerances: betweensaid mating-sur# steel race rings having races in their outer and l inner surfaces respectively and a plurality of hardened rolling elements positioned between said rings in rolling contact with said races, the internal tolerances being such that excessive deformation of said race rings will cause said rolling elements to bind between said races, one of said rings being fitted comparatively loosely to said stationary member and the other of said rings being press fitted with said rotary member and requiring a substantial deforming pressure between the mating surfaces to cause it to rotate with said rotary member, the mating surfaces between said rotary member and the race ring press fitted thereto being undercut to form lands and voids between the mating surfaces to reduce the conta-ct area between them whereby the pressure per unit of area upon the mating surfaces will be increased to cause the metal on the surface faces should cause :the pressure betweenthem itc be excessive andthus reduce the deformation of the movable race-ring. f

3; .In combinationfan. anti-friction beam. .a

hardened stationaryracexring, a hardened rotary' race ring axially aiigned rwithyand radiallyspaced: from .said stationary: race rin-g, hardened rolling elements vintelf-fitted;Ylzietween the-.races yof rings for rolling 'contact therewith, the VNinternall tolerances between said rings and'rollingrelements:-

being vsuch that excessive. deformation offeitlierof said rings will cause said rolling elements-toi bind .betweenthe .racesof said rings, said stationary ring being interiitted to a stationary member with a comparatively loose press fit which will cause negligible deformation of said stationary ring, said rotary ring being press fitted over its peripheral area to a rotary member having a coresponding peripheral area with sufficient tightness to tend to cause substantial deformation of said ring, the peripheral surfaces between said rotary ring and said rotary member being undercut to form voids between their peripheral surfaces while maintaining a press fit between them so as to substantially decrease the area of contact between the peripheries of said rotary ring and rotary member, increase the compressive stress per unit of contact area on the peripheral surface of said rotary member and cause the metal of said rotary member in contact with the peripheral surface of said rotary ring to cold fiow to some extent into the voids between the peripheral surfaces of said rotary member and ring.

4. In a bearing of the type including axially aligned and radially spaced fixed and rotary members separated by an anti-friction bearing having hardened steel inner and outer race rings at least one of which is press fitted to the rotary member, races in the outer and inner peripheries of said rings respectively, hardened steel rolling elements positioned for rolling contact with the races and separating the rings, the internal tolerances between the races and rolling elements being such that excessive deformation of either ring will cause the rolling elements to bind in the races and the ring which is fitted to the rotary member requiring the tighter press fit to cause the ring to rotate with the rotary member, that improvement which comprises at least one undercut region in the surface of one of the elements forming the contacting area between the rotary member and the ring fitted thereto to form lands and at least one valley between the contacting areas so as to reduce the area of contact between the rotary member and the ring tted thereto to such an extent that the metal of the rotary member will be placed under sufficient pressure by the compressive action of the ring to cause it to cold ow into the valley whenthe press fit tolerance is too great and thus reduce excessive deformation of the ring press fitted to the rotary member.

5. In a bearing of the type including axially aligned and radially spaced fixed and rotary members having radially spaced bearing Contact areas separated by an anti-friction bearing in the form of hardened steel inner and outer race rings one of which requires a press fit engagement with the bearing contacting area of the rotary member, races formed in the outer and inner peripheries of the rings respectively, hardened steel rolling elements positioned for rolling contact with the races and separating the rings, the internal tolerances between the races and rolling elements being such that excessive deformation of the rings will cause the rolling elements to bind in the races, that vimprovement which comprises depressed regions in the surface of one of the members forming the contacting area between the rotary member and the ring tted thereto to form lands and valleys between them, said regions being of A suflicient extent that the metal of the rotary member will be compressed and cold flow to some extent into the valleys when the press t tolerance is greater than normal to thus reduce excessive deformation of the ring press fitted to the rotary member.

A. FREDERICK S. KINGSTON.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,013,151 Foster Jan. 2, 1912 1,423,950 Leon July 25, 1922 1,956,236 Hughes Apr. 24, 1934 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Y Date 882,468 France June 4, 1943 

